


Stepmother

by ami_ven



Category: Cinderella (2015)
Genre: Character Study, Community: writerverse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-30 01:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5145767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lady Tremaine had been a girl, once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stepmother

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "writerverse" challenge (write from villain POV)

Lady Tremaine had been a girl, once. She didn’t like to remember that time, back when she had been naïve and believed her life would hold nothing but happiness for her. 

But life held nothing but pain.

First, her father had died, a hunting accident, leaving her alone with her distant, disapproving mother. She had thought that marriage would be her salvation— and for a time, it was. Her husband was older, but kind, and he gave her children whom she loved and tried to raise as best she could. But then he, too, was taken from her, wasting away from a disease the doctors could not even name, let alone cure.

And she was alone, with two small daughters.

They looked so like their father, especially Drusilla, that she could hardly bear to look at them, sometimes. Before she knew it, there would be days on end she had not laid eyes on them, safe in the care of their nanny, and the girls who sat across from her at the large dining table were virtual strangers.

But they were strong.

_They_ had no illusions about what their futures held, no hesitation about arranging the most advantageous marriages they could when they were of age. Anastasia, as the eldest, was most often the focus of her efforts, for once she was placed in as high a station as possible, she could make introductions for her sister.

Then, Lady Tremaine fell in love.

And she did love him, her second husband. He was rich and influential, yes, but also clever and kind. He made her feel like a girl again, as though perhaps she _could_ have some happiness after all. She was prepared to find a home in his country manor, to accept his daughter as sister to her own children, to try at being part of a family once again.

But then he, too, died, and she felt the last of her goodness shatter.

The world was a cruel place. Her own daughters knew that, planned to marry well and take every advantage and opportunity they could. But this child, Ella, had not learned from the death of her mother, her father. She still thought that life would bring her happiness, when Lady Tremaine knew that it would not.

And the sooner she could teach that lesson to Cinderella, the easier the girl’s life would become.

THE END


End file.
